Bhubaneswar: Launching the Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD’s) election campaign in Koraput district from Pottangi and Dasmantpur, the party’s senior leader Kartik Pandian appealed to people to elect his party’s Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha candidates with huge margins.
Thousands attended the meeting and welcomed Pandian. A large number of Congress leaders and workers joined the BJD at both meetings.
In a sharp attack on the Opposition Pandian stated that while lakhs of people are benefitting under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) one Union Minister is conspiring to stop it.
“We are sending Mission Shakti women to Dubai. They too can’t bear that and have stopped that programme. People will give them a befitting reply. Here we have an MP from a different party. Nobody knows what he has done in the last five years.”
Stating that the Opposition has lost its sleep over the transformation undertaken by the Chief Minister Pandian said that Opposition leaders talk tall, and after elections, they become untraceable and added that they have done nothing for Odisha.
He called upon the people to strengthen the hands of the Chief Minister by voting in large numbers for both Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha candidates of Biju Janata Dal.
He said that the Chief Minister loves tribal brothers and sisters and works for them day in and day out. The Chief Minister has constituted Special Development Councils for the promotion of tribal art and culture, he added.
“The Chief Minister has undertaken 5T school transformation so that your children can study well and become good human beings.”
Raising the issue of women empowerment, Pandian said that the Chief Minister believes in work not speech.
He said that the BJD has long been demanding 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and has taken steps too.
Out of 21 Lok Sabha candidates the BJD has seven women candidates, he pointed out. The Chief Minister’s work speaks, he added.
He said that women are being given interest-free loans up to Rs 10 lakh. As many as 4 lakh women are benefitting by plying of LAccMI buses in Koraput district, he added.
“Similarly, farmers are getting financial assistance under KALIA Yojana. The state government is paying the premium for crop insurance. They are also being provided with interest-free loans.”
During the meeting, Pandian interacted with the public and said that the government’s public grievance programme has reinforced the people’s faith.
He informed that 70-80 per cent of the proposals received from the people have been implemented within 2-3 months. He said that this is Naveen’s guarantee.
BJD’s MP candidate Kaushalya Hikka Vidhan Sabha candidates Prafulla Pangi and Prabhu Jani and several other leaders spoke at the meeting.
